Trying to define a Latin music artist can be as complex as trying to define Latin music itself. Considering today's popularity of crossover styles and Latin music awards given to artists who simply have some Latin background, this definition becomes even more complicated. Latin is commonly used to make a reference to people coming from Latin America. The reason why Latin America is named like this has much to do with the European powers that dominated the region after Columbus. Spain and Portugal were, in fact, considered Latin because of their languages, which developed from the original Latin language of the Roman Empire. Because of this, the concept of Latin music extends to artists with Spanish and Portuguese backgrounds. Recently, an Italian background is sometimes treated as an element that relates to Latin music.